CNN's Top 10 Medical Innovations

At www.cnn.com you can find what they feel are the top medical developments for 2009. Here are the first five, with the conclusion appearing tomorrow.

10. Warm Organ Perfusion Device.

Currently, organs waiting to be transplanted are rushed to the patient in a freezer, but after five hours the heart or lung or liver has usually deteriorated so much that it becomes useless. This new machine keeps the organ warm and pumps it with blood, oxygen and nutrients that allow the organ to stay “good” for nearly 12 hours. The Organ Care System, developed by TransMedics, has even made cross-country transplantations possible. The system is currently on the market in Europe for heart transplants and the company is developing a similar system for lungs.

9. JaipurKnee.

Stanford engineering students have designed a $20 replacement knee – the cheapest in the world.

Hong Kong-based Silligent began developing the anti-viral BioMask after the SARS outbreak in 2003, and its release was timed perfectly with the H1N1 scare earlier this year. Unlike other masks, it traps and kills pathogens and chemicals in the air and then kills or inactivates them before they can enter the body. Used across the globe, it is still waiting for approval in the U.S.